Occasional thoughts and comments from an Agatha and Anthony award-winning mystery author

Become a Fan

A wealthy couple from Florida who apparently think they are moving to a wealthy enclave in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, or perhaps the Hamptons, have decided that they want to build an enormous glass and steel home in our little corner of paradise. Elbow Cay, with a year-round population of around 500, is noted for Hope Town harbour and its famous candy-striped lighthouse and a village of quaint, 19th-century style Loyalist cottages. It is barely 6 miles long. Several months ago, residents on the island’s north end noticed bulldozers clearing brush on a “sea-to-sea” four-and-a-half acre tract. By the time the Town Council “noticed,” the entire tract had been stripped bare. The scar bisects the island; it’s so large I'm sure it can be seen from the moon.

As the Atlantic ocean winds began quickly to erode the naked dunes, the Council ordered the construction of a chain link fence. The fence, covered with green netting, borders the dirt road on both sides. It, too, is an eyesore.

"Let no one say, And say it to your shame, That all was beauty here before you came."

The fence on the opposite side of he lane received similar treatment:

"This is a crime against nature and the Bahamas."

[Behind the fence -- a close up view.]

When photographs of the graffiti went up on the Hope Town Community’s Facebook page, tempers flared. For every visiting botanist decrying the loss of hundreds of native plants from the mature site (meticulously cataloged by botanical name), there was a voice claiming that a man had a right to do whatever he wanted with his own land. And, how dare someone deface another man’s property! Didn’t they learn that in kindergarten?

Others speculated on the identity of the graffiti artist – it can’t be a local, someone claimed, because locals tell it like it is, and to your face, too. Besides, someone else mused, the person must be well-educated, because they wrote in poetry and had excellent penmanship.

But both sides used the same word to express their thoughts -- Vandalism!

I guess it depends upon your point of view.

My friend, Shelley Malone, says it best:

“Graffiti”

They tell me that rats have found new shelters on the North End

Their gray tails scattered as bulldozers descended on their homes

Lizards and soldier crabs tried to hide, but found no cover

They had no warning

The insects knew they were doomed when they heard the keening of

Gum-elemis taken by the root, painfully ripped out

Torn asunder and their history mulched

White crowned pigeons flew overhead searching for poison wood trees

Trees known by their families for years

Word spread through the leaf matter, deep with benign neglect

Creatures on the side of the Sea of Abaco were spared

They had a couple of days warning, a notice to vacate

One day, a chain linked fence and netting arrived

Forced by the Council

Sand blew from the unprotected and denuded dune

Someone wrote on the wall

“Let no one say, and say it to your shame, that all was beauty here before you came.”